Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-27
nAKnTA HAPPENINGS.
Some Cheerful FsbrIcations OF Just An
Average Dakota Liar.

Some Cheerful FabrIcations OF Just An
Average Dakota Kiar
In the east thousands OF people plant
and SOW Gin the moon" TO insure rapid
growth, but in Dakota it is dangerous to
plant in the prolific phase Of the moon,
so they are careful TO plant at such time
that the moon will exert its influence in
holding the crop back. ! have known
several disasters TO result from neglect
of this preCautiOn. One day last January
| got lost out il the country, anG while
was t0iling through the tall, new grass
saw 4 man With nothing on but his sus-
pendeTs tearing along like mad. He
stopped lust long enough to tell me what
was up, aud Off he went for the Iowa side
of the Sioux river, which he cleared at a
bound, and fell on all tours in g snow
drift four feet deep. He said he and his
wife had looked up the moon business
and had planted their garden the evening
before, but happened to get hold of &
last years almanac and missed it about
four days The result was that when he
woke up that morning the beets
that be planted foTtv-feel from the house
had crushed in his cellar walls, and
squash vine had taken the door of its
ulLSCS1 anu Nuc luol llD JllLE Tic lOOA
with all that was left of the hired man,
whom it had snatChed out of bed in the
attic. He didn't know where his wife
WIS, but ne saw some shreds of night
gown and several agate buttons in the
front yard as he fed. He said there were
pea vines after him with pods on 'em
large enough for phantom boats, and
one could see by the way he was dressed
-, - 1sr.,. oil i,n -.L
regular thoroughbred DakOJa sample.
If really thought l would ever become
an average Dakota liar l would want to
die
ABOUT two weeks ago | saw a farmer
out behind g stTaw-staCk gathering into O
heap g lot of old bones and pieces of
hides ano Sprinkling salt on them. Yes
terday l saw this same man selling q fine
pair of steers to q butcher uptown. They
were 50 fat and had filled up SO fast that
he had pieced out their hides with
an old buffalo robe. This gran
ger was a Sundsy-school super
iutendeut before he came to Da-
kota, but he swoTe these were the cattle
| had seen him kicking together behind
the strswstack. He said all they had
eaten was some wild grass that had
sprung up in his door yard, where the
women folks had thrown a few tubs
of warm soapsuds on washdsys.
He said that be had learned that
the best way to winter stock
in Dakota was to knock them to pieces
in the fall and set them up again as
wanted, otherwise, unless we got a biz
Yard every week, they were liable to get
too fat and round on the native grass.
fol I 90 % = i
8 match to light my pipe with. The man
told rue to 60 right out in the garden and
pick all | wanted ] did not know what
it meant at first; but he went out with
ME, Rnd-Tm almost afraid you'll think
me g liar for telling it-there was about
half an acre growing the finest parIor
matches | ever saw. They were as thick
IS hair on a blind mole. He said he had
q poor crop the year before because the
seed was TOO good for such soil. This
yesr he had mixed his seed matches with
about one-third toothpiCks, and got
splendid yield.
went out after breakfast and saw the
man blowing up Hubbard sQuashes with
guupowder. They were too large 10 be
moved, and the farmer wanted the
ground.
l noticed that one OF ais wife's
legs was some inches shorter than
tire other, and the msu explained
i thus: He said when they first
came to Dakota they lived in &
''dug-out," with nothing but the ground
for floor, from which they had to NOW
tie grass once 4 DAY to ind the baby.
Il said his wife had 6 HABIT of sitting
with one leg over the other knee, and the
leg that remained in contact with the
soil got such q start that the other couia
never catch up.